DJI RoboMaster S1

https://www.dji.com/robomaster-s1

by dakrisht • 7 years ago

127 109 7 years ago

ex3ndr• 7 years ago

So they are showing how this robots shoot each other and then they show where you can point to a child to follow (or shoot?)...

yeldarb• 7 years ago

Looks like a cooler version of the AWS DeepRacer mixed with an old LEGO MindStorm kit.

hurrdurr2• 7 years ago

Making the offensive component a central design element is... interesting. They could have designed a robot for kids like what anki did but.. this is what they came up with.

throwaway666664• 7 years ago

The fact that DJI releases an educational robot for kids that has a working cannon feels super icky from my western perspective. In China do they think it's a great idea? Is the culture gap that big, or is there another reason?

Also, how long until someone recreates the famous square scene with a lego character and 3 of these?

EDIT: This video from the promo page where it is hunting down a child - https://www1.djicdn.com/assets/uploads/v/1b34c0e069531a08639...

This would have been great without the cannon, with the cannon it feels... off.

sho_hn2• 7 years ago

IMHO this comment qualifies as one of those "bizarre anti-Chinese sentiment" ones.

The #2 consumer drone maker in the world after DJI, Parrot from France, also sells an educational drone for kids with a cannon (it's an add-on but gets sold together in a popular set), and has done so for years: The Parrot Mambo.

There's countless other toys for children that include weaponry and/or glamorize it for that matter, like just about any toy for boys sold in the US throughout the 80s, or so it feels like. I'm also quite sure LEGO has sold sets with motors and plans to build catapult contraptions. Nothing about this is "super icky from a Western perspective".

I am deeply concerned about many things going on within China (e.g. Xinjiang), but this willful othering and breakdown of empathy has to stop. The bottom line here is that some people think it's fun and/or will sell well to have a toy that shoots things. You can absolutely criticize that, but it's a culturally universal phenomenon and doesn't need to divide us along borders.

tastroder• 7 years ago

Also from a Western perspective: this looks like a toy, they even include the orange tip. In context, and contrary to that western battle bots TV show, it seems to pretty much focus on education and competition. A goal which they seem to achieve or it wouldn't be viable to put commercial resources into it.

I don't get this finger pointing, can we please solve real gun violence in our midsts before going for educational resources?

__m• 7 years ago

Just preparing them to go to the MIT. Toying with guns is very much in line with western culture, not even mentioning video games. The ability to program the toy just makes it more attractive to nerds.

Lazare3• 7 years ago

The fact that DJI releases a [toy] for kids that has a working cannon feels super icky from my western perspective.

I don't think that's a western perspective, I think that's your perspective. The actual western perspective likes robots, toys, toy weapons, robotic toys, and robotic toy weapons, and all the various combinations thereof. Nerf and Transformers have been cultural staples for decades.

This isn't even the first commercial toy robot with a toy gun on it: https://www.amazon.com/Nerf-Creatures-TerraDrone-Discontinue...

Or the second: https://www.amazon.com/TerraScout-Nerf-N-Strike-Official-Rec...

Or the third: https://www.amazon.com/Unknown-782-USB-Missile-Launcher/dp/B...

Or the hundredth: https://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Imports-Control-Military-Airs...

I guess you could argue the programmable nature of this somehow sets it apart, but I don't see how.

Is the culture gap that big, or is there another reason?

I don't think the culture gap is where you imagine.

foldingmoney• 7 years ago

I grew up in a western country in the 80s; all my toys were war or military based.

chrismcb• 7 years ago

You mean the western perspective that have us bb guns, lawn dartsm, nerf guns, slingshots, and a plethora of other destructive devices? As a western kids I woukd have loved a robot with working Canon. As a western adult, even more so.

codegladiator2• 7 years ago

where it is hunting down a child

You are explicitly trying to put it out of context and I don't understand why.

Thats tracking and object and not "hunting". Even the hover link which makes that video visible mentions this:

People Recognition
Thanks to advanced computer vision technology, the S1 is able to identify and track any individual you select in the S1’s FOV.

lnsru• 7 years ago

I can imagine, that some primitive gripper is many times more expensive than this offensive component. With a gripper robot must be also bigger and wider as well as more expensive.

As I can see in my home country (ex Soviet Union), parents have no problems when little kids play with guns, tanks or planes. Germans, for example, avoid this. I have mixed feelings, I love peace, but the guns also exist in this world.

TomMarius• 7 years ago

I'm from the former Eastern Bloc. Not playing with a toy gun as a child is seen as weird. It's something that never happens, everyone has used a toy gun many many times and never ever thought it's wrong.

dragandj• 7 years ago

When I was a pre-school child, most kids' parents didn't have money to buy toy guns often, but we made toy guns ourselves from sticks, and these worked quite well :)

jamestimmins• 7 years ago

It's perhaps notable that Anki went out of business.

Given the popularity of games like Fortnite, the shooting dynamic seems somewhat inevitable. They may as well shoot at other toy robots and learn to program in the process.

Lazare3• 7 years ago

I can only conclude they've actually met a child, unlike the Anki designers then. :)

gatherhunterer4• 7 years ago

Children don’t buy $500 toys, parents do.

foxylad• 7 years ago

Really limiting their demographic though. A little thought and they could have have had all the Candy Crush kids too.

zwily• 7 years ago

Do kids play Candy Crush? I’ve only ever seen adults playing it.

usaphp• 7 years ago

From my experience companies try to design way too friendly and childish robots for kids. Kids at age 8-12 don’t like anki looking robots, they are not cool at all, maybe that’s the reason anki went out of business

mrguyorama3• 7 years ago

It was also STUPIDLY overpriced for what it actually could do (not much)

Meanwhile this isn't a terrible price for what amounts to a programmable ground drone and even is just a fun looking toy

adultSwim• 7 years ago

is... a reflection of where this technology came from

nosuchthing• 7 years ago

Wow so crowdsourcing the military industrial complex's artificial intelligence KILLBOTS?

This almost looks like it's satire, but it's completely real and for sale, just $499!

Reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlO2gcs1YvM

Sendotsh• 7 years ago

For those that aren't aware, this is designed for the RoboMaster robotics league in China, which is sponsored (owned?) by DJI in the first place.

Overview of the competition series itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyYsCyMC-0w

Video of the 2018 Finals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRNQfaf_Cr0

Bloomberg video about the RoboMaster S1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzq1DoPnXs

mikl2• 7 years ago

Damn, a younger version of me would have loved this thing. The remote-controlled cars we had in the 90's were downright primitive in comparison.

cbg02• 7 years ago

Those primitive RC cars weren't $499 though.

mikl2• 7 years ago

Given we've had about 100% inflation since then, it's actually not that crazy. A $250 RC car would have been extravagant, sure, I think my fanciest was about $100 back then, but not unthinkable.

djaychela• 7 years ago

I'm clearly old, but I'm sure I remember the Tamiya Frog was about £100 in the mid 1980s, plus radio - IIRC it was about £130 for a complete kit. That equates to about $500 in today's money, so it's not a crazy after all...

rendx2• 7 years ago

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System cost $199 when it launched back in 1991. Plus the additional costs of the games.

mrguyorama3• 7 years ago

The original mindstorms set from lego was over $100 in 90s money and pales in comparison

synaesthesisx• 7 years ago

Wild speculation, but I could see Apple acquiring DJI.

Leherenn• 7 years ago

No way the Chinese government would let a strategic asset be bought by an American company, especially nowadays.

xchaotic• 7 years ago

My kids went through Sphero, Mindstorms and a couple of other robots where you can program them in Scratch and similar. To me such a toy would have been a godsend. They got bored pretty quickly.

Another issue is that gimbal adds to video quality but also to cost.

Finally with the hype, I was expecting a nice ready to fly FPV drone.

So I'm a bit meh about this toy.

Mauronic17• 7 years ago

Why do you think they would not get bored? Also, what do you think about the price?

Mauronic17• 7 years ago

My American girlfriend's immediate response: seems militaristic and violent.

My daughter was turned off from robotics at a young age. She joined firstego league and there was a ton of domineering "boy energy" in her school. She enjoyed creating and personalizing the robots in unique ways, the boys wanted "to win".

This is what happens when you have a bunch of dudes designing educational robot toys.

dgzl5• 7 years ago

I'm curious, since you know your daughter's personality (and those of little girls in general) better than I do, how would the game be designed such that they'd be more interested? Keep in mind this is coming from a company known for making high quality drones.

Mauronic17• 7 years ago

I am not informed enough to even guess. Was it the first robotics ciricculum or the gender dynamics of the class? Or both?

That was 7 years ago, now she is in an all girls high school. The same sex education has provided a much less distracting environment. (Don't want to get off topic but I could go on and on about same sex education)

akerl_3• 7 years ago

I’m more concerned by the idea that wanting “to win” is “boy energy”. Why should we persist the idea that wanting to win is a boy thing, and wanting to create/personalize is (as implied by your comment) a girl thing?

cbg02• 7 years ago

Why should we persist the idea that wanting to win is a boy thing

Because it most often is, boys typically like to compete more than girls do. I'm not going to quote studies on this, just basing this on my experience growing up and now as an adult being around small kids.

trevyn• 7 years ago

Why should we persist the idea that wanting to win is a boy thing

Because the same processes that make male and female bodies have different structure and work differently make male and female brains have different structure and work differently.

langitbiru2• 7 years ago

You are posing an interesting assumption. Your premise is girls and boys are "biologically" different in this robotics context. Your words: "the boys wanted 'to win'", "She enjoyed creating and personalizing the robots".

If we accept your premise to be true, then we must cater to the girls so robotics can be more inclusive. Again your words: "creating and personalizing the robots in unique ways". Maybe DJI can provide robotics which is less violent, catered for girls. I don't know, maybe something like Baymax, or Wall-E.

The other side of coin is we reject your premise. Boys and girls have no differences. Boys want to win. Girls want to win also. If this alternative premise is true, then either we must push the girls to be more aggressive (want to win) or discourage the boys who are aggressive (want to win).

I am interested in other people's opinion about this. No, I don't have answer for this question.

gatherhunterer4• 7 years ago

The differences could be due to environmental influence or a number of other factors. You are reaching to establish a wider gender narrative. Children have different interests for a wide variety of reasons not the least of which is role modeling and social pressure. Anecdotal evidence is not a reliable basis for conclusion-drawing, especially when the anecdotes occur within a similar cultural context. You are trying to find ground for an assumption based on little to no information. Let people be people and stop with the armchair sociology.

bubblewrap10• 7 years ago

Get your daughter a different toy, then, and let the boys enjoy their battles.

Mauronic17• 7 years ago

Are you feeling threatened?

I was just sharing some female perspectives. If this wasn't so expensive, I'd buy 2 for myself.

As a parent, I don't think there's a need to teach the next generation ok kids about AI in the context of autonomous killing machines...

acomjean• 7 years ago

Seems A lot like Robocode, but with hardware and less destruction.

(robocode seems to still be going, though I haven't looked at it in a while..)

http://robowiki.net/wiki/Robocode

https://robocode.sourceforge.io

yardie• 7 years ago

I like it. Wish it came with an arm instead of a turret. We have a Parrot Mambo in our home. The turret was used for a few days and then removed. It added a lot of bulk and halved the flight time.

danboarder• 7 years ago

Bloomberg Businessweek created an excellent video profile of how this kit fits in robotics education and STEAM programs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPzq1DoPnXs

JustFinishedBSG• 7 years ago

DJI taking the time to write a page for the S1 in my language only to at the very end tell me "Not available in your region" is toying with my emotions and heartbreaking

xiphias22• 7 years ago

You can always do dropshipping...it's sucks, but us non-US people are always second class citizens of the world.

mrguyorama3• 7 years ago

It's a chinese company isn't it? You'd think they'd have a non-US worldview

Tepix• 7 years ago

So, how about a DIY variant of this?

- Start with a DonkeyCar with Jetson Nano

- add mecanum wheels (why not three instead of four?)

- add a weapon or laser pointer or whatever

On the other hand, do we really want to push gamification of autonomous weapon systems?

yayr4• 7 years ago

imo giving way to kids impulses like fighting might be commercially the most viable thing - educationally it is not. It is always much easier to be destructive than constructive. However, we should try to teach our kids the latter. Achieving win-win does not usually come from impulse but from empathy.

Although it is hard, I try to avoid fighting games and media for my kids as much as I can and try to teach them competing in more creative ways...

bubblewrap10• 7 years ago

The kids would presumably spend a lot more time constructing than destructing. I also doubt the robots get actually destroyed in the competition.

Do you also forbid water blasters in the hot summer?

As you say, those playful fights are a natural impulse. It is also not true that you can solve every problem without violence.

I'm expecting people to chime up with "what about the girls?", though. Presumably those battle bots might be considered off putting to girls, putting them to a severe disadvantage because they miss out on their STEM education. (An argument I would also consider bullshit, but those are the times).

yayr4• 7 years ago

as I said, it's hard, but I offer them alternatives: building things, ball games, surfing,... I guess they are better of with that than water blasters.

kbumsik2• 7 years ago

Teaching how to code is constructive and creative btw. If you don't want the turret you can simply do so.

yayr4• 7 years ago

the main question is: for what purpose

here it is fighting... This particular robot though is hard to repurpose (e.g. put additional sensors on top, e.g. to measure things or additional actors to move things or have other meaningful impact)

commercially it makes sense, like a facebook bubble does, educationally it is limited

sneak• 7 years ago

DJI is amazing. They sell their drone IMU+RF module separately to make your own drones, and their new 4K Osmo Pocket comes with me everywhere I go. Few companies are making such innovative hardware.

arnaudsm• 7 years ago

I predict someone will mount a real gun on this.

willart4food• 7 years ago

why this?

To comply with local laws and regulations, the RoboMaster S1 will not be sold in Washington, D.C. or North Dakota.

rosege2• 7 years ago

This website has a major flaw. When I click the buy button it says not available in your country. I was thinking about getting this for my nephew who lives in the USA while I live in Australia. I know I'm obviously a small percentage that is outside USA that could buy and get it delivered to a local address but it still seems crazy not to even allow that.

I know I could vpn it but I don't think that should be necessary.

rendx2• 7 years ago

You can change the country at the top right corner. At least this worked for me to get a price tag and the option to order.

sjcao2• 7 years ago

It might be a legal issue instead of the small market. the robot shoot water ball so it might violate Australia law. just my 2 cents.

deskamess• 7 years ago

To mimic your use case, I went through a trial run and it does let you enter a non US billing address (Australia was a drop down).

rosege2• 7 years ago

Yes but are you in the US? When I try and buy it says not in your country. I did just find that if I go store then change to US I think I can now order. I was on my mobile before so this definitely wasn't clear then.

jpdb• 7 years ago

I know this is a yet-to-be released product and it says Python is supported, but does anyone know if it is possible to install 3rd party libraries and interact with the filesystem?

Interested in installing a webserver like flask on here.

Mauronic17• 7 years ago

It will be interesting to see how open it is but DJIs first educational offering (Tello) and other products don't go very far in that regard.

PanMan• 7 years ago

What does the "gun" shoot? It seems laser, but then how does the target in the movie (which seems to be paper) fall over?

sjcao2• 7 years ago

it's some kind of small ball, need to absorb water for 2+ hours before use.

darepublic• 7 years ago

This looks pretty damn cool and I'd like to try it. But weird that the western media hasn't picked up this story in light of all their coverage on China stealing IP...

jeannekamikaze• 7 years ago

Interesting how an educational robot project/competition always needs to involve the careful exercising of ballistics against a target. Descartes clearly got it all wrong and should have instead formulated his proposition as "I fire ma lazerz, therefore I am". By that definition, the singularity is clearly near.

DJI RoboMaster S1

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